MAITLAND — Dolly and Bob Overman are fearful they will have to rely on old photographs, a living room oil painting and their memories to conjure up a picture of the free-flowing creek they saved all their lives to retire on.

The current drought coupled with the forced cutoff of 4 million gallons a day of effluent that fed Howell Creek has turned the Overman's waterfront view into a 3-foot-deep stagnant puddle of algae. Officials charged with controlling state waterways say it could be another two years before any changes can be made.

''It gets me all choked up when I think about how beautiful it was,'' said Dolly Overman, who captured the creek's charm in snapshots of her family boating and fishing in what was once crystal clear water. Overman, 67, pointed to the oil painting of the creek she did last year and the still water in her back yard as ''a true example of Florida's shame.''

The Overmans decided Howell Creek would be the location of their dream home after vacationing with friends who lived on the creek 28 years ago. They moved into 505 Brookshire Circle in the Forest Brook subdivision in 1976 after Bob retired from his St. Louis job as a shoe buyer.

The stream began losing its flow three years ago after the cities of Maitland and Winter Park were ordered by the state Department of Environmental Regulation to stop dumping treated wastewater into Howell Creek and hook into the regional Iron Bridge facility. The creek's water level, which Dolly said hit 32 feet in some places, gradually dropped to its current 3-foot level.

Seminole County Commissioner Sandra Glenn said county staff met with homeowners in the Forest Brook subdivision and explained that the cutoff of effluent would mean the stream would all but disappear during the dry season and return with the summer rains. There are no springs to feed the stream.

Glenn blames dredging of the small drainage creek to allow the sale of waterfront property as the problem.

The Overmans have led a neighborhood fight to get their creek cleaned but have not received help from the various agencies charged with water control. They have a vested interest in the cleanup since tacking a for-sale sign outside their four-bedroom home. Dolly Overman said they have little hope of selling the house, appraised at $159,000, that ''overlooks a creek that once was.''

Only about two miles of the creek, from Horatio Avenue to State Road 436, has become stagnant. The creek meanders 15 miles from its origin in the Winter Park chain of lakes to where it discharges in Lake Jessup.

Jim Bible, director of Seminole County's environmental services, said Howell Creek is not the county's responsibility to clean since it is surrounded by private property owners and falls under the jurisdiction of the state.

DER officials, who control water quality, said the agency was forced to sacrifice a portion of the creek to save other bodies of natural water.

Howell Creek's stagnant state is caused by an unusually dry spring and the DER's efforts to improve water quality at Lake Howell, said Alex Alexander, DER's district manager. Since rerouting effluent from Winter Park and Maitland, Lake Howell's water has improved considerably, he added. Alexander said returning the creek's water level to its original state is the responsibility of the St. Johns River Water Management District.

Orange and Seminole counties asked the district to settle the control of lake levels and water flow three years ago. A floodplain study was completed last year, but a detailed socio-economic analysis must be done before any changes in elevation can be made, said Charles Pai, director of engineering for the district. That study, which will be contracted to the University of Florida, could take two years to complete, Pai said.

Both counties have different objectives, Pai said. Orange County's upstream water basins need weirs to maintain lake levels during the dry season and allow discharge during the high-flow storm period. Seminole County, on the downstream side, needs more water to feed its lakes during drought periods and is wary about being a dumping ground for Orange County during the rainy season.

''It's much more complicated than what we originally encountered,'' said Pai of the delicate balance of lakes and their feeder streams. The university's analysis will study the navigational, recreational and economic effects on property along the lakes before changing any regulatory weirs or dams, he said.

''It would have to be God alone that returns this creek to its natural state,'' said June Figura, who has lived along its edge at 556 Brookwood Lane for 14 years. ''It's just unbelievably heartbreaking to watch the lack of caring about what was once a beautiful stream.''